


Unsupposed To Girl

by therudestflower



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Cuties being cuties even during trauma, F/M, Just some Pope/Kiara feels from someone full of them, New Relationship, Only T bc of swearwolves, Post-Season/Series 01, Right after ep 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23887948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therudestflower/pseuds/therudestflower
Summary: Kiara wasn't a supposed-to girl. Almost everything about her life defied expectations, including when she started her first relationship.
Relationships: Kiara/Pope (Outer Banks)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Unsupposed To Girl

Kiara wasn’t really hung up on the way things were supposed to be. 

Like how girls are supposed to wait for the boy, or automatically fall in love with whichever one of her guy friends made the first move, or that Kooks were supposed to be uptight and white and enjoy talking about shoes. And how in theory, based on movies and Buzzfeed, you weren’t supposed to start your first relationship in the middle of an over the top legit firefight fugitive insane traumatic event. You were supposed to start them sitting on the beach while the sunset after a long night of surfing. 

Kiara knew she was not built on supposed-to’s, and crises were no time to try to change that. 

In the tent, right after they found out about John B and Sarah Cameron, Kiara hugged her parents for a long time. After weeks of being capable and willing to stand up while being shot at to protect her friends, she melted into their arms and cried. Her dad smelled like cooked fish and her mom’s jacket was wet and sticky on her cheek. 

When she pulled away, Pope was hovering near her. He abortively raised his arms towards her and she launched into his arms. 

“I can’t believe it,” he whispered, “Even after everything.” 

Being held by Pope was entirely different. Her parents enveloped her, and unless she strained her couldn't see past them. Pope held her close, holding her to him, not holding her up. She held him too. 

They didn’t see each other for over a day after, none of them. Kiara’s parents told her to stay home. She weakly suggested she was scheduled to work, a joke after all the shifts she skipped, but let herself be talked out of it. 

“No honey,” Dad said, “you rest.” 

Turned out, in the scheme of a murder case now turned onto the most powerful man on the island, the Sheriff’s department wasn’t interested in a couple of Pogues. They were told to stay in town. That was definitely a storm coming. The first day, Kiara had a well deserved day to lie in bed and cry and be exhausted. Her phone was silent, despite the towers being open for the first time in weeks. Maybe that was why, or maybe it was the death. After a lot of effort, she texted Pope “you okay?” and immediately got back, “yeah, okay. cops surprised me. jj is with us.” 

That text was full of questions she should ask, issues she should follow up on, but she couldn’t. Even though she didn’t know how, Kiara wanted to talk to Pope. Weeks of being around him, even though he did a bunch of seriously dumb stuff, made being alone claustrophobic. Kiara loved being around all the Pogues, but it was always different with Pope. and the fuckedness of the past few weeks made it so clear that she was willing to break the rule she’d held up like steel gates for years. 

Like that time, almost a year ago now, that John B called them because no one had seen JJ in four days, and they went on a nightlong mission that everyone knew had a 70/30 chance of being dumb shit, or someting serious. It ended with John B finding him in an empty Kook house at the edge of the island, off the tip from someone she didn’t even know that JJ was planning on staying on the roof overnight. It didn’t seem serious, but they all still went. 

For about twenty minutes, John B screamed up bullshit and JJ screamed down bullshit. She and Pope hung back along the treeline, catching light from the lights of John B’s bus. 

“You know at this point it’s more about being loud than convincing anyone to do anything,” Pope said, “They’re so stupid. 

“I think challenged is the correct term,” Kiara replied. 

“I’m serious. There are about a thousand ways either of them could have handled this. I’d rather be doing literally anything but this.” 

Kiara appraised the scene in front of her, John B now speaking in a bad Shakespearian accent and JJ returning in kind. It was funny, but it was also work to keep up with. She raised her hands to her head and closed her eyes, humming. “Let me guess,” she said sagely, “you'd rather be studying?” 

“I’d rather be doing a lot of things.” 

“Watching the Hobbit,” Kiara suggested. 

“Surfing.” 

“Reviewing for the PSAT.” 

“Scrubbing tile grout.” 

“Cleaning Kook’s bathrooms.” 

“Cleaning a slaughterhouse.” 

“Spending literally a single second at Kook academy,” Kiara finished. 

Pope raised his eyebrows. “That tops slaughterhouses for you?” 

Kiara thought of the day she had ahead of her. The drawn over picture of her that four different shadow accounts sent to her a few hours ago that was somehow racist, sexist, and classist all in one photo. “Yeah,” she said, “yeah, it is. I’m so jealous of you for going to Kildare.” 

Pope shifted, squinting his eyes and standing up straight like a suspicious adult. He held out his clenched hand and spoke into it. “Just in, The Wreck Royalty wishes she went to a Title 1 school with falling ceiling tiles and bats.” 

Kiara fixed her hair and stood up straight, “Yes that’s right, but I think the key detail you left out is the translucent water. I’ve been dreaming about that for more than a year. Every day I walk past the coffee cart and my school and think ‘whoa wish I was getting sepsis with my friends.’” 

Still looking at her, Pope reached out behind him, gesturing to where John B and JJ were now screaming random words in Spanish. Which, seriously? 

“Them?” Pope said, “You want to give up a world-class education to hang around them?” 

“Shit Pope,” she said, “You’re there too, aren’t you? And you’re way better than them.” 

Wide-eyed, Pope opened his mouth and closed it quickly. 

The still-hot September air seized and all too quickly, Kiara knew what was coming. She was only a week away from telling JJ that it wasn’t funny or working and to back off. Pope had never tried, and she knew that as a matter of principle she’d have to say no. Even if it was a different no entirely. 

Pope took a deep breath and stepped away from her. “We should save them from themselves. They’ll do this all night.” 

That, for example, would have been a supposed-to time to start their relationship. 

The un-supposed to time was barely a day after learning that the captain of their ship was probably dead. The day after lying in bed, she walked into the kitchen like she was on the schedule, and assigned herself to prep. It reset her mind enough to be able to step outside her grief. 

After a few hours of chopping, she let herself out back. She leaned against the wall next to the grease trap, leaning on her shoulders and one leg bent against the wall. It was dark in the shadow of the building, but her vision felt clear enough to text Pope “you around?” and he immediately called her. 

“Hey,” he said. She could hear wind and a motor wiring. “How are you?” 

“Fantastic,” she said. “Where are you?” 

“Literally just now getting off Dad’s boat. Delivery,” he said, “Can’t really stop, you know. It’s worse if we do, because then there’s time for people to talk and...yeah.” 

Yeah. Yeah. They couldn’t stop, Pope really couldn’t. “I’m at work too,” she said. 

“Do you want to see me?” 

She made a sound that was somewhere between and a laugh and a cry. “Do you not want to see me?” 

“What? No! Yes! No! I want to see you, yeah. Please. If you’re at work I can just come now?” 

“Come around back,” she agreed. 

Pope arrived barely five minutes later, huffing for breath and holding a chocolate bar up like a sign. He walked up to her when he came around the building, so he must have stopped running right before that. 

“Did you think I’d changed my mind?” she asked. 

“I brought you chocolate,” Pope answered. 

Kiara rushed over, grabbing him in a tight hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. She hugged him before he had the chance to take down his arm with the chocolate, so he wrapped that arm over her shoulders. The funny part was that it brought the chocolate in front of her, and she wanted it. She kissed him on the cheek and pulled away, taking the chocolate as she went. 

“Uh, you kissed me,” Pope said. 

Kiara squinted at him. “Was that a one-shot deal?” 

Pope started stuttering. “I mean, it’s okay if it was, it was a really heat of the moment situation and you said no once and you said no to John B and JJ and I just think it’s okay if you just, it’s okay if you don’t--” 

God, did she have to do everything? Kiara put her hands on Pope’s shoulders and kissed him, with enough focus and clear intent to say,  _ Yes, see? I’m in.  _

“Are you still in love with me?” she asked. 

“Yeah,” Pope breathed. “I just, I don’t want to force this if it’ll make things worse. 

“Okay,” Kiara said, “So one, I’m a smart person and as you mentioned, know how to say no and also know how to clobber anyone who ignores it. Please don’t make me argue for why we should date. Let’s do nice things, okay?” 

Smiling, Pope kissed her on the cheek. “Kind of weird that it’s happening now, not really what you see in the movies.” 

Kiara shrugged. “What about our life has ever been like you see in the movies?” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I was sad that there wasn't more Pope/Kiara fic, then realized I Can Fix That. It's rare that I'm blessed with a canon ship I love this much!


End file.
